Blue Cayenne

Orange Chocolate Cookies

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Ingredients

• 1 C. unsalted butter (at room temperature--plus extra for chocolate dipping sauce)
• 1 C. granulated sugar
• 1 egg yolk
• 2 t. freshly-grated orange zest
• 2 C. flour (plus extra for rolling dough)
• 1/4 best quality orange marmalade (divided)
• 6 ounces bittersweet chocolate

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F. and prepare a baking sheet by lining it with parchment paper.
2. Put the butter in the bowl of your stand mixer and beat it at medium-high speed for about 1 minute. You want the butter to be creamy. Add the granulated sugar and beat the mixture until it is light and fluffy (about 2 minutes). As you beat the butter and sugar, scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl occasionally. Add egg yolk and orange zest to the mixture and beat until thoroughly combined. Reduce the speed of your mixer to low and gradulally add the flour, mixing until just combined.
3. Lightly flour a working surface and put your cookie dough on top of the flour. Using a lightly-floured rolling pin, roll out the dough until you have a 1/4 inch thickness of dough. You may have to sprinkle on a little extra flour to keep your somewhat-sticky dough workable. Use 1 1/2 inch cookie cutters to cut the dough into rounds. Place your cookie dough rounds a generous one inch apart on your parchment-lined baking sheets. You can re-roll the little bits and pieces of dough left after cutting your cookies. These cookies are so good that you will want to get every last cookie out of your batch of dough.
4. Make a small indentation on the top of each cookie. You can use your thumb; I used a wine cork. Fill each indentation with 1/4 teaspoon of marmalade.
5. Bake cookies at 375 degrees F. until edges begin to brown, about 12 minutes. Remove baked cookies from the oven and let them cool on the baking sheet for about 2 minutes and then on a wire rack until they are completely cool.
6. When the cookies are cool, dip one half of each cookie in melted chocolate. Melt the chocolate in a double boiler over simmering water (or in your microwave oven). As you melt the chocolate whisk in tablespoons of butter (one tablespoon at a time) to give you a good dipping consistence.

New Orleans-Style Bread Pudding With Whiskey Sauce

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Ingredients

For The Bread Pudding
• 1/2 C. raisins
• 2 T. whiskey (more for the cook)
• Day-old biscuits or bread (about 6 cups)
• 2 C. half and half
• 1 C. whole milk
• 3 large eggs
• 1 C. brown sugar (light or dark)
• 2 1/2 t. pure vanilla extract
• 1 t. ground cinnamon
• 1/4 t. ground nutmeg
• Dash of salt
For the Whiskey Sauce
• 1 C. heavy cream
• 1/2 C. whole milk
• 1/4 C. granulated white sugar
• 1 T. cornstarch
• 2 T. whiskey
• 2 egg yolks
• Pinch of salt
• 1 T. unsalted butter
• 1 t. vanilla extract
For Garnish
• Extra whiskey to sprinkle over baked bread pudding (optional)
• Whipped cream
• Dash of salt
• Sliced almonds toasted in a bit of butter

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
To Prepare Bread Pudding
2. Simmer the raisins and whiskey in a small saucepan. As soon as the whiskey comes to a simmer, remove the pan from the heat and let the raisins macerate in the warm whiskey for 20-30 minutes.
3. Prepare your stale bread by cutting it into 1/2-inch cubes. You will need approximately six cups of bread cubes.
4. Put the half-and-half, whole milk, brown sugar, and eggs in a large bowl and whisk until blended. Add the vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg and a dash of salt to the bowl. Whisk to combine.
5. Add the bread cubes and soaked raisins (with their liquid) to the bowl with the milk and stir gently to coat the bread cubes completely. Let this mixture stand for 30 minutes to 1 hour, stirring occasionally.
6. Spoon the soaked bread mixture into a well-buttered 2 1/2 quart baking dish and bake your bread pudding for about an hour at 325 degrees F. or until the pudding is firm and golden brown.
7. When the pudding is fully baked, take it out of the oven and set it on a rack to cool. Sprinkle the top of the pudding generously with whiskey if you like. Serve the pudding warm (my preference) or at room temperature topped with some of the whiskey sauce and a dollop of whipped cream. Sprinkle toasted almonds on top of the bread pudding. Refrigerate any leftovers. (Alternatively, you can spoon some of the whiskey sauce into shallow bowls, put a piece of the warm bread pudding on top of the sauce, top with almonds and whipped cream.)
To Make the Whiskey Sauce
8. Using a medium saucepan, combine the heavy cream, whole milk and grandulated sugar. Stir and set aside.
9. Whisk the cornstarch and the whiskey together in a small bowl. Set aside.
10. Whisk the egg yolks in a small bowl. Set aside.
11. Put the saucepan containing the milk/cream mixture on your stove over medium heat and stir in the cornstarch mixture. Bring this mixture to a boil, stirring constantly. Reduce the heat and continue to cook this mixture for about 3 minutes while stirring it frequently.
12. Temper the eggs by slowly adding about 1/2 cup of the hot milk/cream mixture to the whisked egg yolks, whisking constantly while you do this. Be sure to do this carefully. You don't want to end up with scrambled eggs. Once this is done, pour the whole egg yolk mixture into the saucepan with the milk and other ingredients and cook and stir for 1 more minute.
13. Whisk in a pinch of salt, the butter and the vanilla.
14. Transfer the sauce to a glass bowl and cover it with a sheet of plastic wrap. The plastic wrap should be pressed down to actually touch the top of the pudding. You want to prevent a skin from forming on top of the pudding. The sauce will thicken as it stands.

Nutrition

Calories

8901 cal

Fat

299 g

Carbs

772 g

Protein

146 g

Click Here For Full Nutrition, Exchanges, and My Plate Info

Swedish Shortbread Cookies

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Ingredients

• 1 C. unsalted butter (room temperature)
• 1/2 C. plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 2 to 2 1/2 C. flour
• 1/3 C. raspberry jam
• 1 C. powdered sugar
• 1 t. almond extract
• 2 to 3 teaspoons water

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
To Make The Cookie Dough
2. Beat the room-temperature butter and the granulated sugar in the bowl of your stand mixer (using the paddle attachment) at medium-high speed until the butter and sugar turn creamy. This will take about 2 minutes. Lower the speed and gradually add the flour, mixing until the flower and butter mixture are just combined. Add enough flour to make a dough that is not sticky.
3. Turn the dough out onto your counter and divide the dough into six balls. Wrap them in plastic and chill in your refrigerator for 30 minutes.
4. After 30 minutes, remove the dough balls from the refrigerator and, working with one ball at a time, place the ball between two sheets of parchment paper. Use a rolling pin to roll the dough into a rectangle that is about 1/4-inch thick. The original recipe said to form the dough into 3 inch by 10 inch rectangles, but I found that I needed to make smaller rectangles to keep my dough at 1/4-inch thickness. I found that my cookies broke in the middle if they were rolled too thin. Once the dough is rolled out, peel away the top piece of parchment paper.
5. Next, make a shallow crease down the center of the dough rectangle and fill the crease with raspberry jam. I used my thumb to make the crease.
6. Repeat this process with the remaining dough.
7. Retaining the parchment paper, transfer the dough to a baking sheet. Place the baking sheet into your preheated oven and bake until the edges of the cookies become golden brown. Ovens vary, so you will need to keep an eye on your cookies. The original recipe said to cook for 10 to 12 minutes. I needed to cook my cookies a bit longer. I was not able to cook all the cookies at once and cooked them in batches.
8. Remove your cookies from the oven and let them cool for 2 minutes. After 2 minutes, cut across the short side of the rectangle at a slight angle. You will get about 6 cookies from each rectangle. Retaining the parchment bottom sheet, transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool competely.
To Make the Glaze For The Cookies
9. Whisk the powdered sugar, almond extract and 2 to 3 teaspoons of water in a small bowl until the glaze is smooth. Using a spoon, drizzle the glaze onto the cooled cookies.

Nutrition

Calories

4342 cal

Fat

194 g

Carbs

490 g

Protein

43 g

Click Here For Full Nutrition, Exchanges, and My Plate Info